(CLAIR | Camarillo, CA) -- There are some events that somehow manage to happen right in our own backyard without most of us realizing just how good they are until they are over. Wings Over Camarillo is one of those events. On August 15 and 16, Camarillo Airport became one of the most exciting places in Ventura County as thousands of people gathered for the 45th annual Wings Over Camarillo Air Show, a two-day celebration filled with historic aircraft, aerobatics, parachute demonstrations, classic cars, helicopters, food, exhibits and plenty of reasons to keep looking toward the sky.
Simi Valley’s own Ron and Leslie Resnick were among those who made sure not to miss it. The Resnicks are huge fans of American aviation, and they sent us some terrific footage from the weekend that gives a pretty good sense of what the rest of us missed. Their video captures the thing that makes an air show so difficult to describe in still photos: the movement, the sound, the speed and the strange feeling of watching aircraft that usually belong in history books suddenly roaring past you in real life.
Wings Over Camarillo has been around for 45 years, but it is much more than an event for people who can identify every airplane by its engine sound. Serious aviation enthusiasts certainly had plenty to appreciate, but the show works just as well for families, kids and anyone who simply enjoys seeing something unusual. Visitors spent the morning walking among aircraft, checking out classic cars and trucks, visiting vendors and exploring STEM exhibits before the flying program began around midday.
Once the airplanes took to the sky, the entire atmosphere changed. The 2026 show included P-51 Mustangs, a Spitfire, P-63 Kingcobra, A-26 Invader, MiG-17, Corsair, Hellcat, Japanese Zero and a long list of other historic and aerobatic aircraft. The U.S. Air Force Wings of Blue parachute team descended into the airport, the Ventura County Sheriff’s helicopter demonstrated a water drop, and the Condor Squadron performed its traditional Missing Man formation.
Several demonstrations were accompanied by ground pyrotechnics, eventually building to the show’s famous “Wall of Fire.” It is the kind of thing that makes much more sense when you are standing there feeling the heat and hearing the engines overhead than it does when someone simply tells you about it afterward. For several hours, the entire airport seemed to operate on the same simple premise: find a good spot, look up and see what happens next.
This year also included a celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Douglas DC-3, one of the aircraft that helped transform commercial aviation. Actor and longtime Camarillo resident Patrick Warburton served as the event’s Grand Marshal, adding another familiar local connection to a weekend that already felt much more like a community festival than a traditional aviation exhibition.
That is probably the biggest surprise about Wings Over Camarillo. You do not have to arrive with any particular knowledge of airplanes to enjoy it. There are families sitting beside aviation historians, veterans watching aircraft they recognize, children seeing warbirds for the first time and plenty of people who have no idea what kind of airplane just flew past them but know that it looked incredible.
The show typically attracts more than 20,000 people over the weekend and is organized by the nonprofit Camarillo Wings Association. Beyond producing the event, the organization has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to local nonprofits and programs supporting youth, science and aviation, giving the weekend a community impact that extends well beyond the airport.
Still, for an event this large and this close to Simi Valley, it remains surprisingly easy to overlook.
